Pay2Win made it to Elite

[Rat Catcher]

It's not a pay-to-win thing but actually makes your ship more shiny.

Should FD put on sale for Arx a ship configuration that cannot be built in game, they even I will agree with the "Pay to Win" sentiment.
Bit of a bind for Horizons 4.0 players as they will have to shell out more in Arx, if they want new ships, than they would if they just bought Odyssey, but at least they have the option to buy, which non-Horizons owners didn't have.

 

[Darkfyre99]

It is a shame that now whatever happens you will refuse to believe them any more.

After all if they decide to not put these ships up for sale then the fact they have gone back on saying they would still makes them untrustworthy.

There is nothing wrong with admitting you did wrong. In fact, admitting you did so is how you build trust, rather than denying that you did so in the first place.

 

[Narfiam]

Aside the Pay2win stuff, which I don't like, my bet for the engineers being more accesible (or my desires rather) are:

• All engineers unlocked by default without needing to unlock them.
• No Colonia exclusive full upgrades (Shield Cell Banks... ).
• Removal of the reputation system from them.

I can't think of any other improvements to make them more accessible tbh.

 

[Arindor]

If I understand correctly, what's disappointing is that it appears that FD have just stuck two fingers up at LEP owners, then kicked them in the nuts, for a pre-access ship. Ok, ok, I don't have to buy a ship pre-access, I can wait for release but lifetime should mean lifetime, right? Based on this bovine excrement from FD, no more cash from me. Epic fail.

 

[Eymerich]

...which due to aggressive and well-funded pre-marketing by their publisher still brought in considerably more money than Elite Dangerous' launch (and massively more than Odyssey's launch did) before people realised they'd been sold a lemon.

Hello Games could afford to fix NMS for free quite easily because their launch was only horrible in the review sense, not the financial one. If their launch had been comparable to, say, Elite Dangerous' (or worse, Odyssey's) on initial sales and income, we wouldn't be praising them as an example of a good turnaround from a rocky launch, we'd be saying "anyone remember NMS? now that was a proper disaster, at least Frontier managed to fix Odyssey somewhat"

Elite dnagerous was about 40 milions in loss and 80 milions in gains.

The fact the gains went to other projects isn't definitly a problem of the customer.

 

[Eymerich]

These are long term goals, short tern they need cash to fund folks working on the game.
We have to remember this is a niche game, none of us want it turning into a copy of another game just an improvement on what we have without ruining the distinctly different feel of Elite.

All valid points but again i see interiors and base building as something that needs a lot of manpower to produce, what they are doing now is using existing assets to raise revenue and hopefully new players to boost development.

O7

You work in frontier?

if no how you can say if those moneys goes into development? Those moneys goes to shareholder.

 

[yianniv]

I showed SC to my brother yesterday... He laughed his socks off when I was killed by the lift (just trying to press the button!)

Oh, no, now they're have to create maintenance-crew functionality, you just delayed their release schedule

 

[Rat Catcher]

Oh, no, now they're have to create maintenance-crew functionality, you just delayed their release schedule

All of the NPCs were standing on chairs & tables (I thought they'd cured that) too..
When I mentioned 10 years or so & $600+ million so far, he was quite surprised (yes, he was a programmer back in the day)

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Those moneys goes to shareholder.

Frontier has never as a publicly traded company paid any shareholder dividends (and probably didn't when all the shares were privately held either, but that's not relevant here).

The money almost certainly won't all go towards Elite Dangerous - they have their "get back to profitability by launching games they're good at" strategy to fund too - but it's highly unlikely that any shareholders are going to see it.

 

[gorankar]

"Pay to Win: In computer games, involving or relating to the practice of paying to get weapons, abilities, etc., that gives you an advantage over players that do not spend money."

pay-to-win

1. in computer games, involving or relating to the practice of paying to get…

dictionary.cambridge.org

Buying ships, upgrades, and timed exclusives for real money does give an advantage over players that do not spend, and therefore absolutely is pay2win. It's ridiculous to pretend otherwise. Is it pay2win is not even a question, it is, so, the real questions are: "Can I live with this level of Pay2Win in the game?", and "What level of Pay2Win is too much for me, personally, to accept?"...
We are all about to find out it seems.

 

[Rat Catcher]

the real questions are: "Can I live with this level of Pay2Win in the game?", and "What level of Pay2Win is too much for me, personally, to accept?"...

Well said...

We are all about to find out it seems.

I'll be watching from the sidelines too!

A part of me wants this gambit to be a massive success (as there still isn't another game that has all of EDO's content) while wondering how far it might go in the future.

My "I'm off!" moment would be if a ship build / module that cannot be created in game was offered (I do wonder how long FD will hold out with Horizons Live having to buy - even though buying a copy of EDO would cost around the same as a single ship and give access to all 4 (or however many actually release) ships without further expense.

 

[gorankar]

I would be more willing to pay for ship interiors than ships and modules, but with the way other companies are raking it in doing similar or worse I suppose this sort of thing was inevitable. That other game has raked in 600M and the only thing they have perfected are suicide booths elevators.
"If the other players don't get you, the elevators and stairs will."

 

[DYSEQTA]

Horizons Live having to buy - even though buying a copy of EDO would cost around the same as a single ship and give access to all 4 (or however many actually release) ships without further expense.

Feels like an obvious push to try to get everyone on Odyssey so they can stop having to deal with this split player base problem. Lets face it even if you think you don't want the space-legs stuff or your machine can't handle it you can still own odyssey and just not do that content at all.

 

[Gendo Ashina]

That would be firmly THEIR problem. If somebody decides to smoke my ship because I bought it using Arx, they may do so. No skin off my nose. I have just over ten billion credits in the bank. I can easily afford to lose the rebuy for a ton of new modules... and a Python 2 would be outfitted with engineered armour, MRPs, HRPs, the works. I'd not take it personally. I work as a teacher, so getting under my skin is . . . let us just say, it's about as easy as killing a rhino with a tooth pick.

That's because your perspective of "pay to win" is exclusively combat related, pay to win shouldn't even be what the conversation is about. "Winning" in elite dangerous has an entirely different meaning from person to person. "Winning" for me is turning every single ship into the most overdeveloped explorer ship possible, by time gating new ships for premium currency, they are making it "pay to win" before combat even enters the conversation. I don't care if my ship gets blown up, I have thick skin too, but even with thick skin, the in-game tone from players in game has been getting worse year after year, and when I see frontier make decisions that will impact that space I'm definitely going to bring it up. I don't care if I get blown up by a ship someone paid for or grinded for, but I do care that the in game chat is going to be flooded with people complaining about this for the several months.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Feels like an obvious push to try to get everyone on Odyssey so they can stop having to deal with this split player base problem. Lets face it even if you think you don't wont the space-legs stuff or your machine can't handle it you can still own odyssey and just not do that content at all.

That is no concern at all. Legacy is dead code, and Horizons 4.0 is the same Client as Odyssey, just with some features disabled by code, but they're still in the installation.

 

[Ozric]

Those moneys goes to shareholder.

Are you a shareholder?

No it doesn't. I certainly haven't gotten any.

 

[[VR] DDM_Reaper20]

That's because your perspective of "pay to win" is exclusively combat related, pay to win shouldn't even be what the conversation is about. "Winning" in elite dangerous has an entirely different meaning from person to person. "Winning" for me is turning every single ship into the most overdeveloped explorer ship possible, by time gating new ships for premium currency, they are making it "pay to win" before combat even enters the conversation.

No, my perspective about pay-to-win is not combat oriented. I simply do not care, that's all. I wish to have fun, I do not do this to compete with other people. I play ED to unwind, not to stress myself out...

 

[robbyp]

The facintating thing about Youtubers is that Frontier continue to pander to them, while they constantly criticize and carp.

Meanwhile those that contribute to the game positively (us that produce tools for the game) are ignored..

Such is life.

 

[Gendo Ashina]

No, my perspective about pay-to-win is not combat oriented. I simply do not care, that's all. I wish to have fun, I do not do this to compete with other people. I play ED to unwind, not to stress myself out...

I wish to chill and unwind in elite too but by withholding ships that would let me do that for real currency, they are hindering that process.

Also, it is strange that you claim your perspective isn't combat oriented when you exclusively used combat examples in the post I was responding to

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I learned that talent here, you know that

To be fair, i don't know my rear end from my elbow.